Food Industry During The 1900's: Article Analysis

In the past century there has been a substantial change in the way human beings raise and keep animals meant for food. While in the past there were great numbers of widely spaced small individual farms, now there are relatively few, but extremely large industrialized farms. And as the numbers of animals kept and slaughtered for human consumption increases, these industrialized farms, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFO's, are having more and more of an impact on the environment and people around them. The concentration of animals causes a major problem with the waste products they produce, as well as the gases, chemicals, and other types of byproducts. And the increased use of antibiotics in the animals is beginning to have a profound effect on the health of not only the environment but the communities that exist around these industrialized farms. CAFO's, and their secondary industries, are also a large consumer of oil, gasoline, and other fuels which can have an indirect, but devastating effect on the environment. Luckily there are some who have come to recognize the problems, and potential future problems, involved in this type of animal farming and have begun to inform the public to the dangers these farms pose. And in response to this information, the public is beginning to force changes in the way these CAFO's operate and the impact they have on the environment and

Could you even begin to think of how fast food and grocery stores would be if there were no mandatory monthly inspections or no required food sanitation guidelines? Food plays a huge role in our lives. Food keeps us going through the day. Food to us is like gas to cars. Without gas, the car cannot drive.But is the food we are putting into our systems having a bad impact on our bodies that we can't control? In the early 1900s, the food was incredibly unsanitary. The food was more dangerous than when "The Jungle" was written. We have come a long way.

In recent years, Americans have been blaming antibiotics used in animals to be processed for food for many of the growing number of health problems in developed countries. Fast food restaurants are making movements to remove antibiotic treated meats from their menus. This movement is causing quite the stir in consumers and livestock producers alike. Do the antibiotics used in beef really contribute to antibiotic resistant diseases? Should antibiotics be outlawed in the use of farm animals? The eradication of antibiotic use in America’s beef industry is not feasible due to its usage in the treatment and control of deadly or discomforting diseases.

By weight, eighty percent of antibiotics are used in agriculture to “fatten animals” and “protect them from the conditions in which they are raised” (McKenna). Animals are given micro-doses of antibiotics, that is, a small amount of antibiotics to prevent diseases from occurring. This micro-dosage amount allows for mutation that Fleming described. The routine use of antibiotics in agriculture has led to “[sixty-five] percent of chicken breasts” and “[forty-four] percent of ground beef” to house bacteria “resistant to tetracycline”. Additionally, “[eleven] percent of pork chops carried bacteria resistant to five classes of drugs” (McKenna). These bacteria then spread from animals to the humans who eat them, causing humans to get infections which cannot be treated. The issue isn’t as simple as ceasing to give antibiotics to animals. Most animals raised for consumption live in an environment ripe for infections and diseases to spread. Instead of giving the animals more room to live, the majority of farmers opt to give the animals antibiotics. For cattle, This prevents diseases and death to the immature weaned calves and cattle which saves the rancher both time and money—passing on the savings to the consumers. In a free market society higher prices tend to not go well. However, if antibiotics became useless farmers would have to “[enlarge] barns, [cut] down on crowding, and [delay] weaning”, which ultimately would increase the costs of raising livestock

coli and Salmonella” (Veldman). This statement allows the reader to see the negative impact of antibiotics used in livestock. Gay Miller elaborates on the subject when speaking with Veldman, saying, “Of course, it raises concerns about resistance issues… but from my perspective the most important thing to reflect on with regard to antibiotic resistance is from a benefit/cost perspective.” Veldman continues to explain that the National Cattleman’s Beef Association Website also says, “…science has not found a link between the use of antibiotics in food animals and development of resistant bacteria that might compromise the efficacy of related antibiotics in human medicine.” These two statements by Veldman and Miller tell the reader that even though there is a chance that certain antibiotics used in livestock could be harmful to consumers, there is no scientific evidence to support

The word “antibiotic” in the livestock industry endures an extremely toasty topic. This word appears on Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, and in television news. Antibiotics receive an unfair assessment, when in reality, the word is just one large miscommunication between agriculturists like myself, and the public consumers. October 20th, 2015 was a

The main threat for the overuse of antibiotics are the creation of antibiotic resistant microbes, or more commonly called superbugs. Antibiotics are used to kill mass amounts of bacteria, but they cannot kill all of them. Some bacteria still survive, so they will reproduce and pass their genes down to their offspring. The offspring will now have their parents genes, which includes being resistant to a certain type of antibiotic. Tom Philpott, an award winning writer about food politics, explained, “And the worst part is that antibiotics use in factory farms is not mostly matter of keeping animals healthy.” Philpott is saying farmers mostly use antibiotics to promote faster growth and not to treat sickness. American Cyanamid, a pharmaceutical company, tested animals with vitamin B12 to see if they grew faster. The animals saw significant weight gain, and more experiments were tested. What American Cyanamid found was the antibiotic in vitamin B12 was actually causing the weight gain. This discovery led to mass amounts of antibiotics being used in animals. In 1950, before the discovery, there were 1.6 million chicken farms raising a total of about 560 million chickens. 28 years later, 3 billion chickens were being hatched in about 31,000 large farms (Philpott). The discovery led to mass expansion of farms, because animals were able to grow faster and bigger, so farms took advantage. Factory farms have been overusing

Antibiotic use in animals has recently captured the attention of various professionals as the blatant, adverse effects have become increasingly prevalent. Agricultural manufacturers carelessly inject livestock with antibiotics in order to maximize their weight gain by minimizing the amount of energy consumed in fighting illnesses. This broad use of antibiotics in food-producing animals has contributed to the emergence and distribution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resulting in either mild or fatal illnesses. To put the severity of this issue in perspective, legislators must realize that 1 in 5 antibiotic-resistant infections are caused by bacteria from food and animals. Although antibiotic use in animals is not the sole culprit of the

The 1920’s was filled many types of elegant foods and drinks. The foods and drinks from this time also came with sophisticated manners and etiquette ways to conduct yourself at the dinner table. Selecting the correct types of foods and etiquette should properly give Fitzgerald’s memory back to the 1920s In the 1920s, there were many foods and drinks loved by all but, only a selected few could afford the delicious foods and drinks that only the most elegant can enjoy. For example, Baked Ham was a typical main dish enjoyed by the wealthy, due to its many classy recipes that makes the ham the more classy and elegant for the wealthy that separates them from the common folk.

This is due in part by the previous statement to get higher yields out every animal raised. Cattle, chickens and pigs alike are all subject to certain fattening diets, modern breeding techniques and growth hormone treatments. These forced practices have very adverse, life altering and threatening affects that lead farmers to use antibiotics in order to keep diseases at bay. The Committee on Drug Use in Food Animals states, “doses are used when pathogens are known to be present in the environment or when animals encounter a high stress situation and are more susceptible to pathogens “, (1999, p. 28). It is important to point out that the use of growth hormones and antibiotics dramatically increases body mass, drastically shortens the lifespan of animals such as cattle and is being detected in food for human consumption.

For producers of food animals in the United States this year is not going to be the same as any other year in the past. Why, you may ask? The Food and Drug Administration created stricter guidelines to the Veterinary Feed Directive. For example, any beef producer has used or heard of MGA in their lifetime. Many producers just order MGA, mix it with the feed and feed it. MGA is used to synchronize heifers or to prevent heifers from coming into heat in the feedlot so they don’t waste energy while in heat. Producers are now going to have to take extra steps to get the antibiotics they need for their heard. This is going to affect almost all producers of food animals, large and small. The FDA is going to have to teach and inform producers about how what and why this is put into effect. FDA and researchers are going to have to explain to and keep producers up to date with information like the following.

In 2011, the United States sold 29.9 million pounds of antibiotics for meat and poultry production use. but only 7.7 million pounds for human use. Antibiotics are used in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) to kill bacteria that lives among the animals to keep them healthy until slaughter. They come with many side effects which end up harming the consumer, the animal's life becomes shortened because of the antibiotics speeding up the growth and the long term effects on the earth could end up costing us lots of money. Even though antibiotics keep the animal healthy, the usage in livestock should be banned because it causes a health threat to the consumer and creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Farm animals receive 30 times more antibiotics (mostly penicillins and tetracyclines) than people do. The drugs treat and prevent infections. But the main reason farmers like them is that they also make cows, hogs and chickens grow faster from each pound of feed. Resistant strains emerge just as they do in humans taking antibiotics--and remain in the animal's flesh even after it winds up in the meat case. (par. 8)

To understand the functions of antibiotic and antimicrobial use in the food industry one must consider how antibiotics became incorporated in the industry over the past few decades. Antibiotic use erupted during WWII where they were developed at a large scale to control human infections. This mixed in with the high demand for food during the war lead to antibiotics becoming economically advantages for use on farm animals. During the 1940s research labs conducted experiments to examine the effects of antibiotics administered to food animals. These experiment lead to findings of antibiotics being used to treat diseases in animals. Due to the high demand of food for the war antibiotics were used as nutrition for animals to supplement the plant-based

Does anyone here ever worry about the food that you eat? Where it came from? What it’s made with? If there are any harmful chemicals? Those are of course legitimate concerns because that would be pretty scary to eat food that may just stab you in the back. Have you ever worried about an incurable infection being in your food, though? It’s not a common thought, but actually the feeding of antibiotics to food-producing animals is causing incurable infections and deaths throughout the entire world. It’s very important to understand how antibiotics work and how our misuse of them causes incurable infections called superbugs so that we can further protect